Madura Essay

Madura: Attractions from east coast to west coast revealed

You 've probably heard of Indonesia 's most famous island of Bali, but indeed, Indonesia isn 't just Bali. There are thousands of inhabited and uninhabited islands and just in the north-east of Java, there lies an island that is worth visiting. The sites are just so unique and natural that you are probably wondering why there are not so many reviews of this island. Now, let us walk you through Madura to see its attractions!

All starts from Surabaya

Suramadu bridge

The classic way to get to Madura is by a ferry, which will take about 35 minutes. You need to ride on a ferry from Tanjung Perak port which is located in the northern part of Surabaya. Ferries are always available

It is a waterfall on the beach hence the water goes straight to the Java sea instead of a river. Very rare phenomenon, isn 't it? Grab your camera and shoot!

Karapan Sapi (Maduranese bull race)

Karapan

Just like a Buddhist temple called candi where its architecture has very much influence from India and consists of Buddha statues, vihara is also a Buddhist temple, but with Chinese architecture on its structure and mainly consists of the statues of Chinese Bodhisattva (it 's a Buddhist term, meaning the Chinese figures that have received "enlightenment" and became Bodhisattvas like Budha)

In Indonesia, viharas can actually be found in all towns and cities where ethnic Chinese community live, but this vihara has an interesting history. In early 19th century, a farmer in northern Madura island accidentally discovered some statues in his field and later on it was found that the statues had been sent from Majapahit empire in 13th century. However, the statues were abandoned there as people there didn 't know what kind of statues they were and were not thought to be a valuable discovery. About 100 years later, an ethnic Chinese family bought the field and found out that the statues were actually those of the Chinese worshipped Figures related to Buddhism. One of the statues turned out to be one of the Chinese most worshiped figure, the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin Bodhisattva (also known as Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit). Then the news was widespread among ethnic Chinese community in Madura island